Okay, here’s my attempt at a blog post, channeling my inner “mature, hands-on blogger” and focusing on the “old pc games volleyball” topic. Remember, it must be in English, follow the example’s style, and use simple HTML tags.
So, I was feeling nostalgic the other day, right? Thinking back to the good old days of PC gaming. Not these fancy, ray-traced, 4K mega-games. I’m talking old school. Specifically, I got a hankering to play some old volleyball games.
The Hunt Begins
First thing I did? I dug out my old box of CDs. You know, the ones that came in those giant jewel cases? Rummaged through them all. Found some classics, but no volleyball. Strike one.
Next, I hit up the internet. Started with some basic searches. “Old PC volleyball games,” “DOS volleyball,” stuff like that. Got a few hits, some names I kinda remembered, some I didn’t.
- Beach Spikers – Okay this released on GameCube,but I think it also can be played on PC.
- Power Spike Pro Beach Volleyball – Never heard about it before.
- Some random shareware thing from the 90s…
Downloading and… Issues
I managed to find a couple of these games on some, uh, less than reputable websites. Let’s just say I was using my “be careful what you click” skills. Lots of pop-ups. Lots of hoping my antivirus was up to date.
Got one game downloaded. An .ISO file. Okay, I remember those. I grabbed a program to mount it as a virtual drive – Daemon Tools,I use it a lot.
Tried to run the game… and… nothing. Black screen. Compatibility error. Ugh. I messed around with the compatibility settings in Windows. You know, right-click, properties, that whole dance. Tried running it in Windows 98 mode, Windows XP mode… still nothing.
Success (Sort Of)
Finally, I remembered about DOSBox. That thing is a lifesaver for old DOS games. I already installed.I got DOSBox, configured it to mount the game files (which took some Googling, I’ll admit – I’m rusty!), and… IT WORKED!
Pixelated, blocky graphics. MIDI music. Cheesy sound effects. It was glorious. I played for like an hour, just grinning like an idiot. My wife walked in, shook her head, and muttered something about “mid-life crisis.” She might be right.
So, yeah. That was my little adventure. It wasn’t easy, but I got there in the end. It’s amazing how much effort we’ll put in for a little bit of nostalgia, huh? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go spike a virtual volleyball in some digital opponent’s face.
